Winds of Remnant
by Larose the Distorter
Summary: From a distant future, racing has evolved. New advancements in technology a human engineering have been made to keep up with the new fast paced world. However, this new world isn't all that it seems to be. In an attempt to escape the never ending hell that is Kinetica, one boy will try to stop the loop and escape to a new world. This new world will lead to a new beginning...
1. Prologue

**Hey everyone, this is Larose.**

 **This'll be the first story I ever make, so some positive feedback is greatly appreciated.**

 **For now though, enjoy the story!**

 **Remnant's Wind**

 **Prologue**

 _" **People don't come to the races anymore... They hadn't come in over a hundred years... Not since we developed the suits." - Crank**_

This quote was the first in a small video given to the champion of "Kinetica," a city reborn from the ashes of an economic depression known as the "E-FIRE". In a dark room laid a lone dusty screen playing said video. The audio was cracking, just barely making out the bits of the old robotic voice of the robot, Crank. Sitting in front of the screen was a figure that could barely be made out in the darkness. They sat there, attentively watching and listening to the old racing robot's documentary about the history of the races and the suits. As the video came to an end, one final quote rang out in the figure's mind:

" _ **Assuming you come back... Assuming you want to stay on top... But you can't fool old Crank... You will be back... Your kind always comes back..."**_

Afterwards, the screen went dark. The lone figure just sat there in silence for the next few minutes, those last words echoing in their head.

" _Oh yeah, Crank? Just watch, I'll be the first to leave this never ending hell you call a race."_ the figure thought as they got up and left the room. Stepping down outside down a long metal corridor, they reached for the door leading to the outside. A loud creak echoed throughout the hall as the door opened, revealing the bright lights of Macropolis. The city lights and billboards lit the surrounding buildings up like Christmas lights. In the light, certain features of the mysterious figure could be made out. Chin length brown hair draped across its face and deep green eyes peeked out from behind the bangs. A tight navy blue bodysuit wrapped around this person, who at a glance looked to be 5'6" in height, fairly short for someone like them. Pieces of cobalt blue armor adorned the bodysuit, covering the figure's shoulders, forearms, crotch area and lower legs. Each step they took made a slight clanking noise from the metal they wore.

As the figure walked down the dark streets, another person appeared from the side of the building.

"So... You plan on leaving this place then?" a female voice spoke out. This new figure stood out much more as she walked towards our mysterious recipient. Short red hair with sharp bangs covered her forehead, piercing red eyes met the figure's deep green ones, her face decorated with red lipstick, and her athletic built body donned a tight red and silver two piece bodysuit leaving her lean belly exposed. Her face had a sad expression on it as she looked at her person in blue.

"You know as well as I do that these races have to end. As long as the champion isn't present for the next few seasons, people will have to look to work towards something else to move them forward," the person in blue spoke, their voice sounding young and smoothly. It was hard to tell if they were a guy or a girl, since the tone sounded somewhere in the middle. "If these races continues, I'm pretty sure we're all gonna lose our minds."

"You do know that Crank will know if something is wrong and if the races can't continue as he planned. He'll stop at nothing to make sure you're there at the next starting line," the woman said with worry in her voice. She had been one of the first few people to have met this person since they had started racing in this hellbent tournament. She has seen the hardships they had gone through and was happy to see the results get them to the top, but at the cost of so much pain and torture. She knew as well as all her fellow racers that the suits didn't come cheap; their bodies had to be modified to be able to handle the power the Kinetic suits put out. Not all of those modifications were pleasant either, and to see someone so young put through that torture was too much to take. "The media will announce that the person who beat Crank at his own game went missing, and he will search everywhere for you. He knows all the places to look, so I don't think you'll be able to run away from him so easily," she said as she walked up to the figure, placing a hand on their shoulder.

The person in blue merely look up to the skies. "I can find away to avert his gaze. Nothing's impossible, all it takes is a bit of ingenuity," they said as they walked past the woman in red. She turned to stop them, but was stopped when they look back at her.

"Don't worry, Cera. I've already found a way to escape. You don't need to worry about me anymore. Just keep yourself safe and live a normal life from now on," the figure in blue said with a sad smile on their face. She knew that whatever they were thinking of, it wouldn't end well.

"But, what will the others say if they knew about this? You know how Ava is, she'll be one of the ones you make cry the most," she said desperately.

"I know, that's why I can't pull you guys into this. Since all this started, you guy were like family to me. Kinda funny thinking back on it now since we were trying to kill each other in each track," the figure said with a slight chuckle.

"But-" the woman started, but was stopped when figure placed a hand on her cheek.

"I said not to worry didn't I? Please, do this for me at the very least. Also, tell big sis Ava that I've found my own way out of this nightmare. Hopefully this puts an end to all of your's as well. Just tell everyone to live out normal lives from now on and to not worry about me anymore. I'll be fine..." and with that, the figure left down the street and turned into a nearby alleyway.

"Larose, wait!" Cera shouted as she ran after the figure in blue. But, as she turned into the alleyway, she found that it was deserted. A cold wind blew as she stood there, alone.

"...Please, be safe..." she said as she walked away, tears in her eyes.

 **Well, that's a little taste of what I had planned.**

 **I know there are a few people out there that are familiar with the 2001 Racing game, Kinetica. I wanted to try to bring an old favorite back from the dead.**

 **Anyway, thank's for reading and lemme know if there's anything that could be improved. This isn't a perfect first prologue, but a good test.**

 **Till next time.**


	2. Chapter 1: The Godspeed Hunter

**Alright, had to get this idea out of the way.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

 **Winds of Remnant**

 **Chapter 1: The Godspeed Hunter**

 _ **Larose's POV**_

After that tearful goodbye with Cera, I went off into that alleyway and just sped off with my suit. It was similar to Razzo's and Cera's only slightly less bulky and a little more streamlined. My forearms were covered by cobalt blue armor with sea blue circuit lines running down them. Claws adorned my fingers, and halves of motorcycle wheel's attached to my palms. My head was covered by a sleek sea blue helmet with a cobalt blue visor giving me vision. The helmet continued to run down my back, transitioning from sea blue back to cobalt forming my torso armor. The same circuit lines on my arms ran down my back and chest as well. Lastly, my legs were covered by streamlined cobalt armor with vents along the sides of my thighs and behind my calves. High-heeled metal boots on my feet were attached to the same motorcycle wheel halves on my palms. As I sped down the alley, I kept a close eye on my HUD inside my helmet, paying close attention to the speedometer.

 _100 mph..._

 _200 mph..._

 _300..._

 _350..._

" _C'mon... C'mon, move!"_ I yelled in my head. Time seemed to slow down as I reached the end of the alley, leading to a dead end that would lead me to fall off to the unknown depths of the city below. That was when I smirked.

 _400 mph..._

" _That's it! I'm outta here!"_ I thought as I ran off the road and everything around me went white.

 _ **?**_

My vision was black, I couldn't tell if I made it out of the city or if I fell and died. You'd think that these suits would be more heavier after a fall like that, but I felt as light as I would be without it. Wait... That didn't make sense... I was even feeling a slight breeze on my face.

My eyes snapped open as light flooded my sight. Squinting from under the direct sunlight, I waited for my eyes to adjust from the darkness of the city to the bright unknown daylight. After a few seconds, I looked around and scanned my surroundings. I realized I wasn't in Macropolis anymore. I looked to be on the roof of a four story building, overlooking other various buildings of varying sizes. I walked to the end of the roof and looked down, surprised to see a concrete street below me.

"Well... For once I can look down and not see glass and metal," I said with a slight chuckle. It was interesting. This was a stark contrast compared to the futuristic landscapes I had been grown and raised in. It felt nice, being able to breath in clean, fresh air. Feeling the nice breeze against my skin felt like a dream. But wait... Wasn't I wearing a bodysuit?

I looked down at myself find that neither my bodysuit nor my Kinetic suit were anywhere to be seen, rather I was wearing something a little more casual. For my top I had an electric blue sleeveless shirt that was a bit shorter than an average shirt, exposing my stomach (which revealed to be a bit toned after all the racing I've been doing back home, but by no means muscular since there were no abs present), a white jacket with a folded light gray collar and interior, its right sleeve rolled up to my elbow while the left was left unrolled up to my wrist both unbuttoned at the cuffs, my bottoms being slim khaki shorts that went just below my knees, held up by a pale blue cloth belt with a buckle that had this strange emblem of the outline of an angel wing inside of a motorcycle wheel, and on my feet were white no show socks inside of white and blue laceless low top shoes with gray soles. The strangest thing of them all was a cobalt blue backpack that I never knew I had in my hand. It had a similar design to my suit, which led me to believe that's where it went.

"Well... This is a new look. Not bad I guess," I said as I examined myself in my new outfit. But now wasn't the time to be checking out new clothes. "Might as well find out where I am," I sighed as I took the building's fire escape down to the street level.

Getting a better look at my surroundings now, it seems like I might have jumped back into a place decades before my time. It felt a little foreign to me, seeing as though I only ever seen flying cars and towering buildings that blocked the sky all my life. Maybe taking a small stroll around town will help me familiarize myself with this place. I could probably ask someone where I am while I was at it.

 _ **About a few hours later...**_

"ARGH, I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM!"

After about a while of walking, I ended up getting myself lost. I didn't know where I was even going and trying to ask people turned out to be more awkward than I had expected. Somehow, I ended up in some shady looking part of town. It was places like this that reminded me of the slums in Macropolis. As I walked down the dark streets, I saw what appeared to be a club of some kind. The loud dance music and the bouncer wear a suit and sunglasses standing outside the door was a dead giveaway. Having no other options, I walked up to the guy.

"Hey, uhh... Excuse me?" I asked hesitantly. The guy turned to me, giving me a dirty look.

"What do you want, kid? Someone like you shouldn't be wandering around these parts," he said, looking like he was about to tell me to beat it. I gulped nervously and continued.

"Y-Yeah, I'm new to this place and I was wondering if you could tell me where I was," I asked with as much of a voice as I could muster. He looked at me as if I grew a second head.

'Seriously? You're in Vale, idiot. One of the four kingdoms of Remnant," he told me. Vale? Remnant? I've never heard of those places. I don't think there were places like that where I came from. Something definitely felt wrong about this.

"Vale? Remnant? Never heard of those names before. Mind telling me a little more about those?" I asked him again. This time, he looked really pissed.

"Ugh... I don't have time to be playing tour guide for some idiot who doesn't even know where she is. Why don't you run along somewhere else little girl?" he snapped at me as he turned back to his post. I felt a vein in my head pop after hearing those last two sentences.

"...What did you just call me...?" I said with as much killing intent in my voice as possible. My head was bowed down, with my bangs covering my eyes.

"What? Idiot? Little girl?" he said as he turned back to me. He backed up for a sec after seeing me clench my left hand into a fist, while somehow my Kinetic suit's left arm armor covered my forearm, without the wheel. I reared my fist back.

"I'M A GUY YOU JERK!" I shouted as I gave him the biggest punch to the gut. I'm guessing my armor augmented the strength of my punch since it was hard enough to send him flying into the club, breaking what sounded like glass and tables in the process. I had a bad feeling that I did something I shouldn't have.

Deciding to check what kind I damage I did, I stepped inside and my eyes widened. It wasn't just a table and glass that broke, it was an entire row of tables leading up to the DJ podium that got complete destroyed. Maybe I should've held back that punch a little more, but that guy got what he deserved. There were a few things that pissed me off more than anything: Crank, bullies, and people who mistaken me for a girl. I mean, I know I look a little bit androgynous, but that was just uncalled for. You would not believe how many people back home confused me for a girl. I sent Vigor flying through a wall the first time we met outside of the suits. As I looked towards the podium, I saw the bouncer embedded into the nearby wall off to the side. I gulped a bit as I stepped back a bit.

"Well... This is gonna be a bit hard to explain to the owner. Maybe if I run now, I'll be able to find somewhere to hide out for a bit till things cool down," I said as I prepared to run out of the club, only to bump into another guy in the same suit as the bouncer's. Seriously, does the owner clone his employees to save on cash or something? This guy looks exactly like that last one. I turned to get away from this one only to bump into another guy. I looked around to find myself in the middle of a circle of these guys, completely surrounded.

"H-Hey now, let's not get violent now... I'm sure we can just talk this over a few drinks. What do you say?" I said nervously as the group of suits started to walk towards me, unsheathing what appeared to be red dual bladed katanas. Did I just send myself into some Matrix movie or something?

One of them charged towards me and I felt a surge in my legs. Looking down, I saw my suit's leg armor begin to form and the wheels beginning to rev up.

" _Okay, I dunno what's going on, but I'm just gonna go with it,"_ I thought as pushed a bit of power into my feet, and dashed through the circle. The result was me sending a few of those guys flying to either side of the club, crashing into a few more tables and chairs. One of them actually hit the DJ podium, which somehow changed the music to a song I was familiar with.

 _ **(BGM) Nitrogen (Part 2) by: Juno Reactor**_

" _Well, sounds like home wasn't as far off as I thought,"_ I said to myself, remembering this being one of the songs played during the races in Kinetica. I felt myself moving to the rhythm as I began to dash across the room, zipping past one suit after another, sending each one across the club in a different direction. To me, it looked like they were moving in slow motion, but to them, I looked like a blue blur. It only took me a few seconds to dispatch all of them before I skidded to a stop.

"Whew, what a rush," I said as I took a minute to catch my breath. It was just me in the middle of a the glass dance floor in the middle of a mangled pile of knocked out guys in suits. At first, I thought that would be the end of that, till I started to hear sharp footsteps approaching. I turn my head to the source only to be greeted by not one, but two curious glances from a pair of what I assumed to be twin sisters. The first girl had long black hair and pale green eyes, highlighted by heavy cyan makeup. She wore a strapless white dress with cyan lining, accessorized by a large white flower hairpin above her left ear, a white feather scarf, a silver pad with cyan and red feathers on her left shoulder, white gloves, a small silver bracer over the glove on her left arm, a bow in the center of the top-most part of her bodice, a silver chained belt, cyan wings on the lower back. But what really caught my attention were her long white boots with what looked like blades at the heels. The second girl looked exactly like the first (twins, duh), only she had red makeup and a strapless red dress with black lining, accessorized by large red and white feathers above her left ear, black fur hanging off her shoulders and held at the front by a dark-gray chain, red gloves, a black bow tied around her waist, and long red boots with very high stiletto heels. Her dress looked like it had designs like a newspaper article, the words I couldn't quite make out. In her hands were large black claws about the size of her forearms. I could already tell this wouldn't end well.

"Melanie, who is this girl?" the girl in red asked her sister, while slightly edging behind her sister. I kind of found it cute how she does that, despite her holding some dangerous toys.

"I don't know Miltia, but we should teach her a lesson," the girl named Melanie responded, whilst arms crossed looking somewhat bored. It just hit me, both these girls just said...

"..." I stood there trembling, not once, not twice, but three times in one day have I been called a girl in a place that I didn't even know about. My fists were clenched tightly, veins popping up from them.

"...How Many Times Am I Gonna Have To Say It... I'M A GUY YOU JERKS!" I yelled once more, stomping the floor making a rather large crack in the dance floor.

"Really? If that's true, you don't really look the part," Melanie said nonchalantly. I swear, this girl had a death wish... At least her sister was smart enough to back away when I started to look pissed.

"Ugh... Screw it," I said as I dashed up to her for a quick charge, only to be met by her blocking me with her bladed shoe. Well, someone's pretty damn flexible.

I backed off before she could swing her leg around for an axe kick to my shoulder. I gotta admit, for a stuck-up bitch, she knew how to kick. I regrouped and decided that charging in wouldn't work this time like with those thugs. I was dealing with someone who knew what they were doing. If coming from one direction wouldn't work, why don't we try all of them? With my suit, I should be able to confuse her with my speed and come at her unexpectedly.

But as I was thinking, she suddenly dashed up to me landing a roundhouse to my shoulder. I was sent skidding a good few feet away from her as she continued her assault. This girl is relentless, she's wasn't giving me any room to recover as I was left with blocked as many kicks as I could. The fact that I was balancing on wheeled armored high heels didn't really help with my current situation either. At this point, she was just constantly sending a flurry of kicks aimed everywhere. She then took the opportunity to make use of m current lack of balance and did a quick leg sweep, sending me to the ground. I tried to get back up, but she pinned me to the ground with her foot to my chest.

 _ **End BGM**_

"Hmph, is that all you got? Pathetic," she said with a smug look on her face. I tried to push her foot off of me only for her to push down even harder. At this point, I'm pretty she was already close to crushing a rib or two.

"It's alright now, Miltia. He's down," Melanie called out to her twin who was hiding near the DJ podium after my outburst. Seriously, that podium has been a hotspot tonight.

"O-Okay..." the red clad girl said as she held her claws up to my neck. Great, this can't possibly get any worse.

"What is going on out here?!" yelled a gruff male's voice. I was wrong, it could get worse. I looked up to see a a man wearing a white dress shirt with a black vest over the top, a red tie, black gloves and black dress pants. He had gray eyes, short black hair, and a black beard with a mustache. I'm just gonna say this, the guy was HUGE. He stood almost seven feet, built with muscles and everything. Hopefully he was the talking type.

"Nothing, Junior. Just some kid wrecking your club, _again_ ," Melanie said with a huff. The man named Junior began to massage his temples.

"Ugh... Not again, and here I thought Blondie was enough a couple weeks ago..." he muttered as he massaged his temples. Whoever this "Blondie" was, I'd assume I wouldn't want to piss them off.

"Okay, yeah. Still down here, mind calling your girls off?" I said, giving them an annoyed look. He made a motion to the girls and they backed off. I got back up taking a few deep breaths.

"Alright kid, what are you doing here? Aren't you a little young to be wandering around this part of town?" he questioned, taking a seat at the bar stools. I took a seat on his left as I dismissed my armor, and the twins took his right.

"Well, I only came here to get some simple information on where I am. I asked your bouncer and he said something he shouldn't have, so I socked him pretty hard as you can see," I explained, gesturing to the broken dance floor and guy stuck in the wall.

"Riiiight... You know you're gonna have to pay me back for those damages, and it ain't cheap. Just had everything fixed up till you showed up," Junior said. He then glanced at my backpack curiously.

"That gear you got there looks impressive, could be worth a lot of cash. How about you fork that over and we'll consider the damages paid for," he said while holding his hand out.

I glared at him menacingly. "No one touches the suit. It's not for sale," I said coldly while turning my bag away from him. I let out a bit of a wave of killing intent, which was enough to startle him and his girls.

"Whoa there... No need to be sensitive about it," he said with both hands out defensively. I calmed down.

"Sorry... There's just a long story about me and this suit here..." I muttered sadly, eyes downcast.

Flashbacks of my experiences in Kinetica came to me. Images of me strapped to a metal table with needles and all sorts of machinery all around me came to mind. I could still hear my pained screams as my body was forcibly modified to adapt to the Kinetic suit. It was a common experience me and my fellow racers had to go through, but I had to deal with it the earliest. These suits didn't come for free after all.

"I'll tell you my story when the time comes when I can completely trust you with it. But for now, no one touches the suit but me," I told the three. Each of them gave their own look of understanding; Junior just nodded, Melanie just gave me a "whatever", and Miltia just nodded and quickly hid behind her sister.

"Okay, so basically you're new to town and you wanna know where you are, right?" Junior confirmed. I nodded in response. Finally, someone who's reasonable.

"Yeah, that's the gist of it. So, care to explain what this place is? I've never heard of Vale or Remnant before," I answered. Like the bouncer, the three of them looked at me weird.

"How do you not know what world you're on? Are you clueless?" Melanie said. Wait... World? So I didn't jump back in time then, I jumped into another world? Whoa, that's a trip...

"Well sorry if the terms are new to me, can you blame a guy for not knowing?" I said with a shrug. It's not like I was native to this place anyway, not that they needed to know.

"Okay, I can only tell you the basics. The world of Remnant is comprised of several continents and four kingdoms: Atlas, Vacuo, Mistral, and Vale, the one we're currently in," Junior explained, holding up a finger for each kingdom. I nodded in response.

"That's pretty much the simplest way to explain this place, but if you wanna know more about Vale, I would suggest looking for Beacon Academy," Junior stated.

"Where's that at? I still don't know my way around too much," I said.

"Melanie, Miltia, could you take this kid to the airships? I'll pay you two a little extra next paycheck," Junior asked the twins. Melanie didn't seem interested, and Miltia was still kind of nervous. Seriously, that girl needs a confidence boost.

"Throw in an extra break and it's a deal," Melanie replied back. Junior sighed, this was gonna take a lot out of his pocket.

"Alright, fine. Just get him out of here," Junior waved off.

As me and the twins headed for the door, I turned back to Junior. "I'll be sure to pay you back someday, promise," I called back to him, waving goodbye. He returned the wave and walked back to the bar.

 _ **About an hour later...**_

Me and the twins found ourselves at what looked like a huge helipad, only it had big aircraft with twin thrusters on the wings. The past hour had been uneventful, none of us wanting to start a conversation. Between Melanie's stubborn nature, Miltia's timidness, and my awkwardness, it was a pretty silent walk to the airships.

"Thanks again for taking me here, I'll be sure to pay you guys back another time," I thanked them.

Melanie just gave me another "whatever" and began to walk back to the club, but her sister was at least being polite enough to bow in response.

"I-It was nothing really. T-Take care now," she said in a rush as she scurried away to catch up to Melanie. Well, that's some improvement in her social skills at least. Shrugging it off, I walked up to the Bullhead (from what Junior told me they were called before we left) to talk to the pilot.

"Hey, does this thing take a trip to Beacon Academy?" I asked.

"Yeah, but the headmaster is currently absent due to him taking the new students to the Emerald Forest for initiations. If you want, I could take you there to meet him. You'll have to find the rest of your way yourself though," the pilot explained.

"That's fine, take me there," I said as I boarded. The pilot wasted no time in taking off. From there, I got a better view of the city from the air. The whole thing looked pretty modern, kinda cozy for another world. I'll have to take a note about that new fact later on.

The flight itself didn't take more than half an hour for us to reach our destination. Once we landed, I jumped off and waved the pilot goodbye. As the Bullhead made its return to the city, I started to head off into the forest.

"Well, this shouldn't be too hard. Just gotta find either the headmaster himself, a teacher or a student," I said as I walked, then slumped down. "Yeah right... I probably should've asked the pilot to drop me off near the guy's location. If a city was hard to navigate alone, a forest would be even harder," I said with disappointment. This was probably a bad idea.

At least that was what I thought, until I started to hear loud explosions and trees falling in a distance. Thinking I'd find someone there, I ran off to the source of the noise. What I came to find was a lone girl facing off against what looked like a giant black and white snake with a bone mask. She was armed with what appeared to be a high-tech halberd with a revolver barrel near the base of the blade. She was backed into a tree with nowhere to run.

" _Crap, she's in trouble! I gotta help her,"_ I thought as I readied my suit and prepared to dash straight into the big ugly thing. Revving up my foot wheels, I made a mad dash towards the two. The snake turned its attention towards me, only to be greeted by a harsh kick to its face. The force from the impact sent it crashing into the trees, leaving it dazed. By that time, the rest of my suit was already folded out. I felt my helmet for around my head as my torso and arm pieces snapped into place. My HUD lit up, displaying all my vital stats, boost gauge, and speedometer. Pulse readings were normal, blood flow normal, brainwaves ok. At this point, it was routine for me to check all these things, but now wasn't the time to be focusing on that. That big snake was already getting back up, and it looked really pissed.

Not wasting anymore time, I was already charging at the thing, ready to ram right into it. My front wheel made contact with its face, and I could've sworn I heard bones cracking when that happened. I took this opportunity to leap off its head and dive down on it. The result was me receiving a tail swipe to the face and being sent a good few meters away and into some trees.

"Ugh... This seemed a lot easier at first," I groaned, looking back up to see the snake charge at me. I was already back on my feet, ready to meet it head on, when suddenly an explosion collided with the snake. I looked over in the direction where the shot came from to see the lone girl aiming her halberd at the snake. I should thank her when this is all over. Not giving it any time to fully recover, I made one last attempt and charged at it again. This time, I leapt off its head again and dropped down spinning like a drill. This stunt I remembered big sis Ava doing during one of our races, and I figured it would help me in this situation. I spun faster and faster, gathering more and more momentum the closer I got. Finally, I made contact with its head, piercing right through its skull. Dashing away, I turned back to see my work. The snake now sported a gigantic hole in its skull, and dropped dead. I was surprised to see it go out in a puff of black smoke. I'm guessing they all do that when they die?

"Whoa, what a rush..." I said, taking a few deep breaths as my suit disengaged, returning to my backpack. I'll have to study that later when I get the chance. Remembering that I wasn't alone, I turned to face the girl I helped. Getting a better look at her now, she looked to be about 17, about 5'5" in height. She had long brown hair done into low twintails, each end tipped with a streak of teal, her eyes were bright blue, which reminded me of the stars back home, her body was of a slim and slender build, decent long legs and slender arms, and torso nice and fit. She wore what appeared to be a Japanese schoolgirl outfit, consisting of a light gray sailor top with neon green accents, which was a bit short exposing her midriff, black-gray short shorts with neon green trim attached to a green pleated half skirt, her shorts being held up by a neon green belt with a silver buckle depicting an orb with the numbers 01 stylized in the center and headphones outlining the outside, and her legs covered with thigh-high black socks and black loafers. She was accessorized with green goggles with red lenses around her head, and a green armband with the same emblem as her buckle on it on her upper left arm. She had a look of exhaustion and relief as she was trying to catch her breath while leaning against a tree. I walked up to her, my eyes never leaving hers.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked her, offering a hand. She returned my gesture with a slight smile.

"I'm fine, thanks. If you hadn't shown up when you did, I'd be snake food," she thanked me with a slight smile on her face. I had admit, she looked pretty cute. I couldn't help but blush a little from her smile. I gave myself a quick second to regain my composure.

"No problem, couldn't just leave you there to die," I assured her. I'd hate to imagine what would've happened if I didn't show up.

Now it was her turn to blush. "Well... My name's Mika, Mika Umishita. What's yours?" she asked.

Well, I had a first name, but I never got to know what my last name was. Well, might as well go with what I know for now. "Larose, it's nice to meet you, Mika," I replied with a grin. We shook hands, but then I realized I hadn't let go of her hand since I helped her up. I took my hand behind my back in a rush. "So... What brings you around here? Not exactly the safest place to be, don't you think?" I asked. She gave me a puzzled look. Did I say something wrong?

"Did you forget? All first years were sent here to the forest for initiation to Beacon Academy. We're to go to the northern part of the Emerald Forest to retrieve a relic and bring it back to the cliffs," she explained. Ah, the initiation that pilot was talking about. She probably thought I was a student.

"O-oh... Must've slipped my mind. What with all the monsters and things going on in this place, one can have the tendency to forget things," I said nervously, rubbing the back of my head. I didn't want to have to lie to her, but with the current situation I didn't want to make her suspicious. So, I just went with it.

"Ah, I see. That's understandable, I was actually almost to the temple when that King Taijitu showed up. Thanks again for the save," she said. I waved my hand in response.

"Again, it was no trouble at all. I'm just glad you're safe," I replied. "So this temple you mentioned, you said it was close by, right? Why don't we go there together?"

"Sure, the other part of the initiation was forming teams anyway. The first person you make eye contact with upon entering the forest will be your partner, from what the headmaster explained," she mentioned. Teams huh? Well, at least for now I could get some assistance, as well as some info on where I am.

"Alright, partners it is. Thanks for having me aboard," I smiled. The giggled a bit from my response. I could get used to being around her.

"Well, let's go then," and with that, we walked north. As we walked, I asked her a few questions about Vale. Like the others, she was a bit confused at first, but after telling her I was new to town she understood my dilemma. She spent the rest of the walk explaining to me the four kingdoms of Remnant, and how each kingdom worked in terms of government. I made to sure to take in everything she said, committing them to memory. She also explained that each kingdom was home to a combat school, with Beacon being one of them. She also went off in telling me about Hunters and Huntresses, how they fought monsters, and protected the people. I was interested to hear about that particular subject. From the sounds of it, Hunters and Huntresses sounded like good people. I wouldn't have minded taking up that kind of career. It was then that we came to a stop.

We were overlooking a circular stone structure, which had a few pedestals with what looked like chess pieces. When we went down to examine them, it appeared that a few of the pieces were already taken; specifically the black bishops, and white knights, rooks, a bishop. I walked up to one of the white pieces, picking up the remaining white bishop. I looked to Mika and she nodded in response, both of us smiling.

"Alright, we got the relic. I don't suppose you remember the way back, do you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can lead the way if you want," She responded. I grinned in response.

"I have a better idea, all you need to do is tell me where to go," I told her. She looked at me with a confused expression. I just smiled at I brought back my suit, full armor and all. Her mouth gaped and her eyes widened in surprise. You'd think she'd be fine with this after seeing it in action once.

"You know, you never did tell what that armor was," Mika deadpanned after recovering from her momentary shock. I just stood there, and while my face couldn't be seen past my helmet, my face had a sad expression.

"...It's not a history I'm comfortable with talking about," I replied in an empty voice. Like with Junior, I wasn't really okay with sharing my story to those I've just met. She seemed to get the message by giving me a concerned look.

"O-Okay... But why'd you bring it out?" she got out. I turned my head to her.

"I want you to hop on," I said simply. She seemed startled with the idea.

"Wh-What? Are you crazy?" she sputtered. I sighed in response.

"All I need you to do is tell me where to go and I can give you a lift to the cliff. Simple, right?" I explained. The suit was based off of those old motorcycles, so I figured I could give her a lift back. This way, I could also speak with the headmaster.

"Are you sure you can do that? This doesn't exactly look safe," she said as she looked me over. I gave another sigh.

"It's fine, I've had to deal with much worse. Plus, you don't look that heavy either, minus your halberd," I said matter-of-factly. She merely nodded.

"Well, if you're so sure, then fine," Mika said as she walked up to me and straddled my back. I had to admit, it was weird carrying a girl on my back like this. Not that it mattered now, all that mattered what getting back to that safe zone she was mentioning.

"Hang on tight, this could get a little bumpy," I said as I started to rev up wheels.

"Wait, what do you me-EEEEAAANNN!" she started before I started to accelerate. She just barely had time to grab onto my shoulders as we sped through the forest like nothing. I asked her where to go, and she was just barely able to tell me while dealing with the adrenaline running through her from moving at practically 200 mph on a Kinetic suit. I don't think there has been anyone back home that has done this before, aside from possibly Vigor. His suit looked big enough to carry a person or two. Following her directions to the letter, it only took us 5 minutes to reach the cliffs. I skidded to a stop to reach a cliff overlooking the forests. Mika got off of me, and I got up to disengage my suit. Luckily, there were some stairs off the side of the cliff, so I was relieved that we didn't need to do any climbing. Once we reached the top, we were met by several people. The first of them was a middle-aged man with tousled gray hair and thin brown eyes. He had a light complexion, and sharp facial features. He wore shaded glass spectacles and a dark-green scarf with a small, purple, cross-shaped emblem on it. His outfit mainly consisted of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest, with a green undershirt. He also wore black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants. In his hand was a walking cane and in the other was a mug. He walked up to the two of us with a gentle smile on his face, but something told me there more to it than that. I nodded in Mika's direction, and then turned to me to give me a questioning look.

"I congratulate you two for making it past the initiation. The two of you showed some real potential out in the field," the green-clad man said. We both nodded in response.

"Thank you, Professor Ozpin," Mika said. Well, at least I got his name.

"It's an honor to receive such praise from someone such as yourself, sir," I bowed. He seemed satisfied with my response and turned to everyone.

"Everyone, it gives me great pleasure to say that you all passed with flying colors. Each of you succeeded in retrieving a relic from the temple, and those relics will determine who will be in your team. Now, if you all could please return to the academy, we can begin the ceremony," he explained. Everyone started to walk back in the direction of the academy, but the Ozpin had stopped me.

"Young man, I would appreciate it if I could have a word with you in my office before the ceremony," he said sternly, his gaze never leaving my eyes. I'm gonna have to do a lot of explaining.

 **Well, that took a while.**

 **Thanks for reading, be sure to leave a review. I appreciate any and all opinions on my work, as it helps me improve my writing.**

 **Till next time**


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